This knowledge in the Art of Living is like an ocean. All is available here and what you make out of it, how you use it, is entirely up to you.～Guruji
生活的藝術裡的知識就像海洋般。這裡面什麼都有，然而你要獲取什麼，你要怎麼樣去運用，這些都是在於你。~古儒吉

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Thursday, January 31, 2013

Walk Like A King

January 03, 2013

Berlin, Germany

Q: Why do Angels have wings, what is the symbolism of that? Can you
please talk about why we have Angels in the Christian tradition.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Man had a fascination to fly. He wanted to dominate space.Man
could walk the Earth, he could dive into the ocean and swim in the
water. But what he could not do is fly. So Angels, which he considered
one step above him, he gave them wings. He thought, Angels have wings
because they are more powerful than man and they can fly and can go
anywhere they want.
But today with the kind of airplanes we have, Angels will be much
slower. We can reach much faster than them. We will leave the Angels
behind somewhere.Nobody with wings, however powerful, can fly faster than an aircraft or a helicopter.
So it is just a concept that they are more powerful than us, because it is only then that they can help us.Angels mean those who can help us, who are more powerful, more equipped than us.Now don’t imagine that an Angel is going to come with wings, and take you with them, and give you flowers, and all that.

Who is cunning and crafty?One who does not have theability to walk like a king. Ifyou have the ability and the
power to do things in astraightforward manner, youwould not do anythingsurreptitiously.

Also, we see many times, Angels are depicted as children.Do
you know why are they depicted as children in the Christian tradition?
This is to show innocence. The higher you go, you have to be pure and
innocent inside, not cunning and crafty.
Who is cunning and crafty? One who does not have the ability to walk
like a king. Someone who has less power has to manipulate and be cunning
and crafty.Someone who is very powerful, why would they be cunning
and crafty? If you have the ability and the power to do things in a
straightforward manner, you would not do anything surreptitiously. You
will not need to.
All those people who do cunning things have no self confidence. They
don’t believe that they can achieve things at their will; they think
they have to do some manipulation to get there.So Angels are
depicted as children with wings because they are innocent. They are
depicted to have a stout body, just like a two or three year old baby.
If you see all the Michelangelo paintings, you will see most of the
angels are babies. It simply represents innocence and purity, and then
ability - more ability than normal human beings.I tell you inside you there is an angel.
In Christian tradition it is said that everyone has a guardian angel. It
is not that they are only guarding you, you are part of that guardian
angel; you are that! You simply have to realize that you are an angel.
You have the power to do what you want to do. Know this and relax.

Q: How do I find the right balance between striving for improvement and being contented with who I am and what I am doing?Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Do you know how to ride a bicycle? Exactly like that!
When you want to have balance, you will definitely have it. Just this
thought, 'I want to balance my life', is good enough. You are already
moving in that direction.

Now when this question arises, ‘How do I do it?’ Know you can do it. Ask yourself, your consciousness will tell you.‘I am not balanced, I am missing out on this’, your consciousness will say it. Then you listen to your consciousness.
If you are attending to your work too much then your consciousness will
prick. ‘Hey you are forgetting your family, your wife, your children,
your husband’ Then you say, ‘Okay I will attend to them’If you’re
getting too immersed in the family and forget about all other things
then your consciousness will prick, ‘My god what have I got into, what
did I get into, day and night I’m just immersed in family affairs, I’m
not being useful to the world, I have to do something I have to pursue
my cause, I have to do justice to my work’. The mind will prick. Then
you do that.

This wanting to
keep balance in life, that very thought is good enough. It is like the
fuse in the electrical system, whenever the electric current surges too
much the fuse will break and save everything else. Like that a little
amount of guilt must be there like the fuse in the system.
You don’t justify but that little bit is okay to have, like the fuse in
an electric system. You know about the electric system and know that in
the electrical board there’ll be one small box called fuse. So whenever
there is an imbalance in current, the fuse will burst and save the rest
of the electrical system. Like that in life, a little bit of guilt is
okay but not too much.
Like salt in the food. If there is too much salt can you eat it? No. Got it? So wanting to have balance is good.

Q: I am sensitive and easily hurt. What is good about being sensitive?Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Life is a combination of sensitivity and sensibility. Sensibility is of the intellect and sensitivity of the heart.
Usually people who are very sensitive they forget reason, logic. Their
sensibility becomes less. And people with a lot of reason, always
thinking about logic and sensibility, seem to lack sensitivity. Life
needs to be a beautiful balance of both. You need to be sensitive yet
strong. Usually sensitivity is equal to emotional instability. It should
not lead to that.
Your sensitivity should not lead you to emotional instability. If you
are strong and sensitive then you have made it in your life. Got it.You have to be sensible and sensitive, both.

In Christian tradition it issaid that everyone has aguardian angel. It is notthat they are only guarding
you, you are part of thatguardian angel; you arethat! You simply have torealize that you are anangel. You have the powerto do what you want to do.Know this and relax.

Q: Like a GPS you guide us to our goal and destiny, but what is our goal and destiny?Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You should make a list of what is not your goal.I want you to discover for yourself what is your goal, and what is it that you want to do.
One thing you should know is that you are very lucky. You are in a time
where you are leading the world. You are in a time that will go down in
history as a big transition from a self-centered, hardened society to a
beautiful world.

Q: If we are old souls who have been here for eternity, are new experiences ever truly possible?Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes, life is ancient yet new.
The Sun is very old. It is 19 billion years old, or even more.The
Earth is 19 billion years old; Sun must be even more than that, some
hundreds of billions of years old. But even today, its rays are fresh
and new, isn’t it?!
So life is a combination of ancient and modern; old and new.It is the same running river from millions of years but the water is new and fresh, isn’t it?

Q: Some people say they live without food, and there is a film about this. Is this true and what do you think?Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: I
know a gentleman who said that he only watches sun light for food. He
has mastered not eating, but sometimes he has a cup of tea with a lot of
sugar in it.
See, this is about training your body. It is like in Russia how they
train you in ballet. The way they bend their whole spine and the whole
body is like it is made up of rubber. It took them so many days to train
themselves in Russian ballet.
In the same way, if you want to train your body to live without food you
can do so. But you have to do it under the guidance of one who has done
it, and not just by reading books. Don’t do that. Someone who is an
expert can train you, it has to be very gradual.
But why you want to do that, what is the point in it. Eat less, don’t
eat too much. Yes there are people who get their energy from just the
sun gazing.In the morning you gaze because everything is energy.
Our eyes are photosensitive, it’s like the solar cells, our eyes have
the same quality as solar cells they can absorb energy and supply it to
the body but that needs to be properly trained for. If nature had wished
that way it would not have given you a mouth at all.
The mouth and all the digestive enzymes, liver and all this need to
function so let them be functional also. Don’t go to those extremes.

Q: What is embarrassment?Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Do I have to tell you what is embarrassment?I know of embracement, and not of embarrassment. If you can embrace embarrassment then nothing can shake you.One thing that people try to run away from, is embarrassment.
Embarrassment is a mild form of criticism. A mild form of feeling
uncomfortable. So sometimes we need to get out of the comfort zone and
feel that little bit of discomfort. Then abilities dawn in us.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Koppi will be away from 24th to 27 for Advance course. Sorry for not able to post any articles during this time. For English readers, please do visit this link as below to read the lastest update of Guruji's knowledge. JGD

Monday, January 21, 2013

Being Born Again

December 27, 2012

Bad Antogast, Germany

Q: Can you please explain why we should avoid rebirth?Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: If you wake up and see, in life there is so much misery, and misery is what you don’t like. You don’t want misery.
What we don’t want to have is called misery, and it is there in life.
Between husband and wife, father and mother, mother and daughter,
daughter and son; with friends and with enemies, there is misery. Even
your body brings you misery. Anything you do, there is some misery.

When you are born in this world, you are dependent. When you are a
baby you can’t even get up on your own, somebody has to lift you and
somebody has to wipe you.
From the time you are born you are dependent, and even in old age you
become dependent, but money gives you a false opinion that you are
independent. That is why it is called Maya. Maya means it creates an
impression.
If you give somebody a few dollar bills, they come and work for you, and that gives you the feeling that you are independent.
In life there is dependency. Where there is dependency there is misery.
What is miserable is not pleasant, and you don’t want to have it. So
people say, `I don’t want any more rebirth. Enough is enough.’

Just imagine, you have to go to school again, be whacked, and then go to college and go through all the teenage crises again.
Look at all those teenage children, their faces swollen; so angry. The
are angry at their parents and they don’t know what to do.
See, it is not just your enemies who bother you, your friends also bother you.
Everything is a botheration.
Your mind is occupied by your friends as much as it is occupied by your
enemies. So they all bother you. Moreover, keep all botherations on one
side, your mind is your biggest botheration.
Nothing in the world can bother you as much as your own mind, I tell you.
In fact, others seem to be bothering you, but it is not others, it is your own mind.

You want freedom from your own mind and so you say, ‘I don’t want another birth.'
But once you know that it is your own mind that is bothering you, and
not somebody else, then that is wisdom. And when wisdom dawns then you
say, ‘I don’t mind if I have to be reborn ten times, or a hundred times,
or a thousand times, I will come.'
Then you realize life is joy, life is bliss. This is wisdom!

Yesterday I said, mind is our best friend and mind is our worst
enemy. It sees an enemy in a friend and a friend in an enemy. Your mind
can twist, distort, create it’s own hell and it’s own heaven.
So what we really want is freedom from the mind, but you say, 'I don’t want to be born again.'

Q: How to deal with people with a very big ego, especially when their behavior is affecting life and others in a bad way?Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Let them have a big ego, why are you bothered?
You nurse an even bigger ego than them, there ends the story.
In fact you will find you have a bigger ego, I tell you.
Let others have an ego, so what? Why do you sign on a contract of
destroying everybody’s ego, or making everybody’s ego smaller?
If someone has a big ego, nature will teach them. One day or the other,
they will become miserable. Leave it to them. Let them enjoy the music.

Why do you become so miserable looking at the ego of others? I don’t understand that.
You do what is required of you, as much as you can do, and move on. That is it.
In life we should just move on.
If someone is nasty to you, you can get up and shout at them, or scream
at them, ‘Why did you do this thing to me yesterday; the day before and
ten years ago?’
But I tell you, you are certainly spoiling this moment as well by
talking about a mistake that happened yesterday or a month ago. You are
spoiling the beauty of this moment.
I would want you to make a decision right now, ‘I don’t care what happened in the past, right now I am not going to spoil this moment’, finished.

The world is like an ocean, these sort of things happen. They happen
and they go away as well. Friend become enemies and enemies become
friends for no apparent reason.
How many of you have had the experience, that even though you have done
only good to certain people, for no reason they have become your
enemies? (Many raise their hands)
You wonder, ‘Oh my God, I did only good to this person, why is he blaming me? Why has this person become an enemy?’
Also, there are people to whom you have not done any favor and yet they
have helped you a lot. How many of you have this experience? (Many raise their hands)
See, whether someone becomes your friend or your enemy, it all works on
the strange laws of karma. That is why, put them all in one basket and
relax. This, I have adopted as my policy.
You do so much good to one person and still if that person is angry with you, or they blame you, what do you do?
So, don’t go on chewing on that and spoil the present moment with the past.
Isn’t that a good idea? This moment let us celebrate.

In the past I used to listen to people, all their stories and their
blaming one another. Suddenly I realized, ‘No, I’m not going to listen
to anybody’s complaint any more. I don’t want to spoil this moment’s
energy.’
Deal with your things, that is your karma. This is what the ancient people used to say.
They would never sit like counselors and listen to all your stories. They’d say, ‘Come on, wake up this moment; now (snapping his fingers)', and that would bring a huge change in the mind, in the energy, and in the time.
But you don’t start doing that right away, then you will be called the most insensitive and rude person. Got it?
Do it slowly. You have to listen to people, which I have also done for
so many years. But a point should come, especially with people, when you
have to say, ‘Okay, now no more.'
Sometimes it happens, old people at home go on and on. They enjoy
complaining. How many of you have experienced this? (Many raise their hands)
See! They enjoy complaining, and when someone listens, they complain
even more. At those moments you should just put on music and say, ‘Hey
come on, let’s dance. Stop complaining.’

Q: Gurudev, you said that 2012 was going to be the year of 'Nanda' (bliss). How come it was such a hard year?Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: The year of Nanda is not yet over, it will be over end of March.There are still three months more.
You know, it is good when things churn inside you, then you wake up.
It is not that it happens only in the outside world, but even in the spiritual field, it happens.
People come here for spirituality but they get caught up in so many other things.

The other day a person came to me, and I said,‘Why did you come to
me? You came to me for knowledge, and you have left the knowledge and
you are thinking about all other things.'
That person said, 'This person said like this to me.’
Come on! If the world is bad, it is for a good reason; so that you
better straighten yourself up. When you don’t see your own flaws, you
see flaws in everybody else, and you think, ‘Everybody is bad, only I am
good.'
I tell you, people who think like that are seriously wrong. They are not saadhaks (spiritual seekers). To be a saadhak is to look at oneself and see, 'What should I correct in myself, let me correct that.'
You cannot complain that it is cold in Germany in winter. It will be. It is good to stay indoors.
So, catch hold of wisdom. That is the only truth and the only reality.
And that is what all this knowledge, meditation and sadhana is for. It
gives you such inner strength that you can walk with a smile under any
circumstance. Isn’t that what everyone is aspiring for?
Such an inner strength, that come what may, nobody can snatch your smile.
This is most needed.

Q: How does one achieve and maintain inner strength?Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: By waking up to this knowledge.
It should not be that just once a year you come, listen to some
knowledge and go away. Make it part of your daily routine, so that it is
maintained.
Also, humility is important. Sometimes, people get so numb to knowledge. They think, ‘I know it all.'
One should not get into that arrogance, ‘I know the knowledge, what is there to know.’
The constant revival of knowledge; of the same points that you know, and reliving it is important.
It is not a very tough or difficult task, and even if you lose the
knowledge for a moment, it just comes back. Knowing that it comes back,
you don’t really lose it, it is there.

Q: Dear Gurudev, can you tell us why it’s good to come out of
the comfort zone in which we feel safe and secure, and do things that we
don’t like doing, or which we don’t feel comfortable doing. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:Coming out of your comfort zone time and again will expand your ability and your strength; you become stronger.
You are so caught up in your comfort zone. That is the cause of your
fear, your anxiety, and your bondage. Your comfort zone is your bondage.
Sometimes when you wake up and say, ‘I am going to get out of this’, it brings that strength back to you.

Q: Why do people that we love commit suicide? Do they not feel our love?Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Well, it is because they are not exposed to the knowledge and they don’t know what it is to be alive, or what it is to die.
They have no idea about their prana, or about their life. They are so
obsessed with their comfort, so they commit suicide. People who want
extreme comfort are those who commit suicide. They have no forbearance;
they can’t bear a little discomfort.
That is where you need more prana and more energy.

The more you tell someone not to commit suicide, they’ll say, ‘No, I
want to commit suicide.'
Sometimes I tell them, ‘Okay, commit suicide, but climb Mt. Everest and
from there you jump. Don’t hang yourself at home. Go for some adventure
and if you die, you die. Good luck.’

It is stupid to commit suicide. They have not been exposed to this
beautiful knowledge and they don’t know the value of life. That is why
it is very important for us to teach everybody about their breath.
When prana level is really low, that is when thoughts of commiting
suicide arise. When the prana is high, this thought will not come.
No crime will happen if prana is high. You will not be violent to
yourself or others when your prana is high. That is why Sudarshan Kriya,
pranayama, meditation, all these practices need to be taught to people.

Also, such people who have such tendencies should engage themselves in serving others.
In ancient India, nobody would be given knowledge unless they break
their bones to do some seva. 10 to 12 years, people would stay in a
monastery and they would do so much service. Only then they would be
given some knowledge.
When the body is fit from doing so much service, so much work, then the
mind is fit and humble. It is like training in martial arts. Have you
seen martial art training? Mind and body are coordinated.
You are trained like that in the army as well, so that your emotions are
not all over the place, and you are not thinking of 'me' all the the
time.

Q: Dear Gurudev, when we have some problems or
decisions to make and we get the answer from the voice inside us, how do
we know who is speaking? Is it our mind, intuition or the Divine
itself?Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: It is all the same, don’t
worry about it. There is no need to analyse it too much, just be at
ease. When we are at ease, the right answer comes up.
Intuition cannot come by forcing ourselves. It is a natural phenomenon.

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Some
people act good and some act bad, but everyone is going to die, and the
world will be finished. This set of people will all go away. Then new
people will come and they will all die. Then another set of people will
come, they will fight among themselves, they will hug, love, kiss, do
everything, and they will all die. See, the world is like a river, there
is fresh water flowing every moment in this river. What is it that you
are so bothered about? - Sri Sri

Every
human being is a book in himself/herself - a novel. In a library we get
all kinds of books. The whole world is a library. There is only One
Author for all these books and He is flooding the market! Only a few,
who are awake, see that these are all stories and rejoice. And you are
one of those few. If you think you are not, become one right away. You
have a lifelong membership in this library. ~Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

A Balance of the Heart and the Mind

January 07, 2013

Kochi, Kerala

(Sri Sri at the International Leadership Summit)

In a home, do you know who the real leader is? Is the father the leader of the house, or the baby?
You will be surprised to know that it is the baby that leads the house.
It is around the baby that the entire family circles, isn't that so?!
That is why, I consider myself as a baby; as a child.

A real leader needs to have these two qualities, one of the head and the other of the heart - Sensibility and Sensitivity.
Often what we see, people who are very sensible, are not sensitive,
because they are so focused on reason; on being sensible and logical.
And then there are those who are very sensitive that at the drop of a
hat, tears come into their eyes, but they are not sensible enough.
Neither of these two can become a good leader, because you need to have
a balance of both - Sensibility and Sensitivity; heart and mind,
because we are all made up of these two very important aspects of our
life.
Intellect has its unique place, and so do our emotions.

In the past century, the emphasis has been only on the intellect. A
tear in a man's eyes was considered to be something weird. How can a man
cry?!
And a woman taking a mike, and standing up and speaking, or fighting
for her rights, was considered to be weird. And that is how the society
was. Women could not lead!
Of course, not in Kerala. In Kerala, a different system has been there.
But world over, women were not given that intellectual power to speak
because she was brushed aside as the more fair and sensitive race.
Today, the scenario has changed.
Today, we need sensibility and sensitivity. We need that softness of a
female in every leader, and the strength and perseverance of a male in
every woman, then one can lead any organization. What do you say?!

There is something very important that I want to tell you. Whenever
we have to discuss about leadership, or anything very dear to our
hearts, we need to be in a very informal atmosphere.
So, why don't we just take half a minute, to greet the person behind
us, in front of us, to our sides, saying, 'I belong to you!'

Done?! Did you greet the people near you?
Some of you were so shy to even say 'Hi' to others.

Many times, we find leaders in such a position. They don't look at
people, they look somewhere else and keep talking. They can't relate to
people, isn't it?!
So did you really tell the people around you, 'I belong to you'; or you did it as a formality?

You must have noticed, when you get off the plane, the air hostess
greets you saying, 'Have a nice day!' They say this much but they don't
really mean it.
In the same way, most of the pleasantries that we exchange in our daily
lives, is from that level. We say, 'Hi', or 'Welcome', but there is no
warmth of welcoming someone.
But the same words, when it comes to you from someone very dear to you;
your mother, or your sister, or close friend, then it carries some
vibrations.

Most of what we communicate is through vibes, and words play a very
small part of it. Your vibrations send more messages, even before words
come out of your mouth.
A leader when he relies on his words should know for sure that his words will not be relied upon.
If you rely on words so much, people will not rely on your words. It
has to come from deep within. That is what is called sincerity, when
there is a connect between your vibes, your feelings and your words.
You may tell me, 'Gurudev, it is so difficult to match these three. How
is it possible?! If everybody could match these three, everybody would
be a saint. It is not practical!'
I tell you, okay, I agree with you. You will not be able to match it
100%, but at least can you match 25%. That much you can do, because
people can feel it; sense it.
So we convey a lot through our vibrations than through words. Words are important but it needs that presence.

People are intelligent, they can make out when you really welcome someone and when you are doing it as a formality.

Okay, I have another exercise for you. Will you do it? Are you ready?
Can you turn to the person next to you and tell the person, 'I don't trust you!'
If your spouse is next to you, this is an opportunity! (Laughter)

You all did it so quickly?!
Did you notice that it was not easy to do that. This is the very first
time that you must have told someone, 'I don't trust you', and you
started laughing and they started laughing as well. Transformation has
begun.
You were not relying on their words and they were not relying on your words, isn't it?!

Just for a minute close your eyes, and just imagine, no one trusts you. Everybody is telling you, 'I do not trust you.'
You may open your eyes.
How do you feel? Relieved?! Awful?!
(Audience: Awful; miserable; uncomfortable; desperate; sad; horrible; dejected)

You know, this is what we generate when we have this attitude, 'I don't trust anybody.'
We create such a vibration, that anybody who comes around us, they feel
that we feel that way, and then there is mistrust in society, and that
is how society starts going down and conflicts arise.

Do you know, most conflicts can be solved at the very beginning itself, if the pact of trust is attended to.
See, when you feel nobody trusts you, you feel so bad, and you feel
such a bad vibration all around you, and that creates such an atmosphere
that is not good for you or for anybody else.
I don't mean that you have to be naive, but at the same time I want you
to look at this aspect of trust. A society which has no faith in human
values cannot flourish, or progress, or be creative, on any count. This
is my conclusion.

Now you may ask, 'What about self-doubt. I trust others but I don't trust myself.'
This is another form of the same disease. Lack of trust in yourself
leads to lack of trust in others. Lack of trust in others leads to lack
of trust in the values of society, which leads back to lack of trust in
oneself.
This needs to be corrected. And anything that corrects this should be welcomed.
Trust between communities, trust between members of the same family is important.
I would say, it is stress that is responsible for distrust.

Don't think everyone is a fraud. There are good people on the planet
and that counts for majority of them. The world is bad today, not
because of a few bad people, but it is the silence of the good people
that has created unfavourable situations. Now it is in our hands to
change this.
Each one of you is a leader, don't look for a leader.

What is important is to lead from behind. A real leader is not one who
emphasizes, 'I am the leader, you must follow me', instead he says, 'Go
forward', and he pushes others in front. 'I am here with you, so you
run'; just like the coach who assists his participant in a running race,
or a coach who teaches you swimming.
Someone argues, how can I jump into the water when I don't know
swimming. But unless you get into the water, how can you learn
swimming?! You can't swim in the air. So that guidance has to come from
one's own very life's example.

You have seen the big uproar that has happened in India. Finally
people have woken up to the plight of women. It is not the first time
that a woman has been abused, it has been happening for many years and
in many places. People have woken up, and everybody is demanding that
these people need to be punished, but they are leaving out one person,
i.e., Mr. Alcohol.
If these people were not drunk, perhaps they would not have gone out of
their senses. And if these people were in their senses, perhaps they
would not have committed such a crime. But they were totally drunk.
Isn't it?!
It is alcohol which is the first culprit.

I keep hearing of this everyday; every single day. Men drink at night
and then they go and beat up their wives, and in the morning they ask
her for forgiveness, and she forgives them and life continues.

Q: You just said that alcohol is the main reason behind the Delhi
gang rape case. But today, there have been cases of young girls being
raped by their own fathers. In those cases, it is not just alcohol. What
is the bigger problem?Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Correct, it is not alcohol which is the main reason behind this case.

Sex offenders have primarily three issue. One is hormone issues, where there could be some serious hormonal imbalances in them.
Second is emotional disturbances. The person must be a victim of some sort, within themselves.
Third is, total deterioration of human values.

So, these three things together can make a person do such criminal acts which they themselves would regret.
It is not that they would feel very happy that they have achieved
something great. They are doing such a bad thing to a small child.
They are compelled because of their sick mind, imbalanced emotions and
hormones. So these kind of people need treatment. They definitely need
counselling, and society needs to provide them with this kind of
counselling without any stigma.

Do you know, this is not just in rural places, in fact, it is more in
all the advanced countries. In world over, this problem of child
molestation is prevalent. So many such cases are there. Father molesting
his own daughter, we have heard of something like this in India only
recently, but this has been happening in America for so many years. And
it has gone to an extent with all these television shows, that
sometimes, children start doubting, 'Oh, maybe my father did like this
to me.'

I want to share one such case with you.
An elderly couple came to me. Their daughter who at time was already 38
years of age, suddenly thought, after watching all these talk shows,
that she is a victim. That her father did this to her when she was a
child.
So suddenly, after this television show, the relationship between the parents and the daughter became so bad.
The father was crying, saying, 'How can I ever do such a crime. My daughter thinks I have done this to her.'
So, some of these television shows can make such an impact as well, that it destroys the family.
Are you understanding what I am saying? It took me quite a while to sit
them all together, to counsel them, to make them meditate, and all that.
Of course, finally the family came together, they could let go of these impressions.
Many times people consider themselves as victims to draw more attention. These kind of things also happen in society.

We need to put an end to crime against women and children at any
cost. This can only happen when society turns more spiritual, more
humane and more sensitive.

Q: If government is corrupt, how can the nation create good governance.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
The government has no personality, it is the people in the government
who become corrupt. It is the people who can become incorrupt as well.

See, corruption begins where the sense of belongingness ends.
Nobody can be corrupt with people whom they think belong to them. They
will not take bribe from their friends and family. They take bribe only
from those whom they find are outside their sense of belongingness.
So, corruption and crime, these two things have to be removed, otherwise the government cannot be effective.

Criminal elements in the government is a horrible thing.
Do you know why every party gives tickets to these criminal elements? It
is because they have a vote bank. If you, the good people start making
your own vote banks, you can dictate to every party, 'If you give
tickets to criminal elements, we are not going to vote for you', then no
party will dare to give tickets to corrupt people or to the criminal
elements in society.
That is why I said, we should all, together, stand up for human values
in society, united. Individually we all stand up for values, but we need
to stand up being united.
If all good people in Cochin stand up and say, 'We will not allow Cochin
to be polluted. We stand for cleanliness in our city', then things
start changing.
I feel this is necessary.

Q: There are many corporations that are venturing into
social responsibilities, but recently the government has introduced some
policies where this is being thrust onto corporations. What do you have
to say about this?Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: If the
government says that companies have to spend 3% of their profits on
social responsibility, a good corporation would spend 4% of their
profits, and not limit to the 3% as per the government's guidelines.
It is a good thing that the government has given such a guideline. At
least 2% to 3% must be given towards corporate social responsibility.

I don't think there is anything wrong with this decision of the
government. I think this one decision is very good, that every
corporation should spend at least some percentage of their profit for
the welfare of others.
This has been said in our Dharma Shastras as well. Anyone who gets any profit has to share a percentage of it for the welfare of society.

Q: Can you say something about entrepreneurship.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Entrepreneur is a projection of creativity. One aspect of creativity.
An entrepreneur has to come out of his or her comfort zone. One cannot
say, 'I want to be in my comfort zone and I want to be an entrepreneur',
that is not going to work.
Entrepreneurship always involves risks and the ability to undergo hardship.

Q: What is the significance of the culture of leadership in organizations?Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: A leader has to walk the talk. Be sensible, sensitive and compassionate.
We need three things in life, Passion, Dispassion and Compassion.
You can't have only passion, then you feel very stressed out. You need
to have dispassion, you need to know how to let go. If you keep holding
onto things when they are out of your hands anyways, you will only be
more stressed. And a stressful person is a burden for himself, for the
society and for everybody.
A stressful person becomes harmful and toxic.

In any institution you should identify those who are stressed.
The ones stressed are soon going to become toxic. So, see to it that the
person changes his whole attitude and feels better about himself.
When people are relieved of stress, then you see a wave of change that arises.

It is not an easy task. If someone is not willing to let go of his or
her stress, you cannot make them let go of it. So, it is an uphill task
and you have to do that.

Q: You have already told that
women are naturally good leaders, but there are not enough women
leaders. Can you tell us, what are the barriers for becoming a good
leader? Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: I want to tell you that India has more women leaders than any other part of the world. Do you know that?
We have many women members of Parliament, many women in the legislative
assembly, and many states ruled by women. The whole country has been
ruled by women for several decades; so never think that you need to be
empowered by somebody.
Here, in India, women are already empowered. America has to learn that.
America has not yet come to that level as far as women empowerment is
concerned.

Q: In my work environment, I meet different kinds
of people, and I may not like talking to some of them. How do I be
diplomatic in my approach?Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: This is a very tricky question.
Sometimes if you are not direct, and if you don't tell them on their
face, they think that you are giving them some other indications in a
subtle way, or are confirming what they have in their own mind.
At the same time, you need not be rude when you need to express your
opinions, or ideas, which you want to put forth. So, it is really about
striking a balance.
There is no definite formula. You have to play by the ear.
How to be diplomatic - this cannot be taught now and applied later. It has to come out of you spontaneously at that moment.

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Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, founder of The Art of Living Foundation, inspires thousands of people across the world. He plays many roles for many people – as a humanitarian ambassador, spiritual leader or a meditation teacher, as well as a peace advocate.

SiewWoan Lim is a native Borneo chinese. Born 1983, she was raised in a multi cultural and religion neighbourhood.In 2009 she came upon a testimony from a Art of Living devotee in the newspaper, and 3 years later she got the chance to complete her first Basic Part 1 Sudarshan Kriya course. From there on, her life is now devoted for the AOL movement.

After being mesmerized by his Holiness Guruji's wisdom, Koppi's thirst for knowledge made her search for huge amounts of reading material. However, search results from the internet are mostly English articles, in that moment, she thought "how nice it will be if all these beautiful wisdom and knowledge can be shared to Mandarin speakers as well".

Her dream came true after completing the DSN course, with love as the major motivator, she has since created this blog and started her life as a english to mandarin translator.

Her wish is for Guruji to spread and share more love and wisdom to the whole world, thru this simple blog.